WASHINGTON, June 9, 2015 PRNewswire-USNewswire
-- On June 4, Congressman Tim Murphy introduced legislation HR 2646 designed to dismantle the federal mental health authority – the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) – which has promoted recovery and community inclusion for individuals with serious behavioral health conditions for 25 years, as called for by President Bush's New Freedom Commission on Mental Health.
The bill would replace SAMHSA with a new Office headed by a politically appointed government official, controlled by Congress and robbing people of their civil rights through forced treatment and increased institutionalization.
The bill is a revised version of The Helping Families in Mental Health Crisis Act (HR 3717), which failed to pass in 2013. The bill will be heard in the House Energy and Commerce Committe.
Murphy's bill "is based on a false connection between mental illness and violence," said Daniel Fisher, MD, PhD, of the National Coalition for Mental Health Recovery (NCMHR), a coalition of 35 statewide and national organizations representing individuals with mental illnesses. Study after study shows that no such connection exists. In fact, individuals with mental illnesses are actually 11 times more likely to be victims of violence than is the general public.
Murphy's bill contains Orwellian examples of doublespeak, such as claiming that Assisted Outpatient Treatment (AOT) is a community-based alternative to institutionalization. '
"In reality," said NCMHR board member Joseph Rogers, "AOT is the opposite of a community-based alternative." AOT is more accurately called Involuntary Outpatient Commitment (IOC), under which someone with a serious mental health condition is court-mandated to follow a specific treatment plan, usually requiring medication and resulting in their institutionalization if they refuse. Any effectiveness of AOT/IOC is due to an increase in costly services, not coercion.
Like HR 3717, HR 2646 would interfere with community inclusion by:
eliminating all consumer-run technical assistance and statewide networking grants because they would not fit the criteria for evidence-based services despite the fact that peer support is evidence-based;
requiring that all grants and contracts be approved by the Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Health in an overreach of Congressional authority;
narrowly restricting the activities of peer supporters, thus making peer services strictly an extension of clinical services at lower pay;
greatly increasing institutionalization by undoing the IMD (Institutions for Mental Diseases) exclusion, which prohibits the use of Medicaid financing of hospitals and nursing homes larger than 16 beds; and
greatly reducing confidentiality under HIPAA.
"We urge everyone to educate their members of Congress about why they should not support HR 2646," Dr. Fisher concluded.
The National Coalition for Mental Health Recovery (NCMHR) works to ensure that consumer/survivors have a major voice in the development and implementation of health care, mental health, and social policies at the state and national levels, empowering people to recover and lead a full life in the community.
SOURCE National Coalition for Mental Health Recovery
CONTACT: Daniel Fisher, MD, PhD, NCMHR board member, media@ncmhr.org;
877-246-9058
http://www.ncmhr.org/
11:53 AM PT: Subcommittee to Review Rep. Tim Murphy’s 'Helping Families in Mental Health Crisis Act'
The Subcommittee on Health, chaired by Rep. Joe Pitts (R-PA), has scheduled a hearing for Tuesday, June 16, 2015, at 10:00 a.m. in room 2322 of the Rayburn House Office Building. The hearing is entitled, “Examining H.R. 2646, the Helping Families in Mental Health Crisis Act.” Subcommittee members will review H.R. 2646, legislation authored by Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee Chairman Tim Murphy (R-PA) and Rep. Eddie Bernice Johnson (D-TX), as well as legislation authored by Rep. Doris Matsui (D-CA). Additional legislation for discussion may be circulated prior to the hearing.
Wed Aug 19, 2015 at 8:50 AM PT: National Disability Leadership Alliance is a coalition of grassroots organizations run by persons with disabilities. We value the opportunity to make meaningful choices about our lives, to live and work in the communities of our choice, to have a full voice in all of the policies that affect our lives, and to be treated with dignity and respect for our civil and human rights.
Among our Alliance are many people with severe mental health conditions who are part of a growing movement for recovery of a life in the community. H.R. 2646 ignores the principles that help people to recover while building too much on outdated and irrelevant concepts.
This bill would merely support treating symptoms when we can help people to better manage their mental health and take an active role in their recovery. We are disturbed that H.R. 2646 does not focus on hope or individual integrity. This lapse would keep people in clinical revolving doors rather than moving forward with their lives.
For example, H.R. 2646 would be a giant step backward for Americans with disabilities. This bill includes provisions that would silence our voices, reduce our choices, compromise our rights and restrict programs that protect our rights and safety. It would increase the use of involuntary outpatient commitment, coerced psychiatric treatment and hospitalization, heralding a return to the failed policies of the past. It is tragic that on the eve of the 25th anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act and the 16th anniversary of the Supreme Court’s Olmstead decision that legislation is proposed that would interfere with the full participation of persons with psychiatric disabilities in society and a life in the community.
We agree with Representative Tim Murphy, the author of H.R. 2646, that the mental health system is inadequate to meet the needs of people with psychiatric disabilities. Representative Murphy is correct that millions of people with psychiatric disabilities, rather than receiving timely help and support, end up homeless or in prison. However, this legislation would decrease civil rights of persons with psychiatric disabilities by increasing the use of forced treatment and hospitalization at the expense of voluntary, pro-active, community mental health and substance use disorders services and supports. Read the letter to Congress at http://www.disabilityleadership.org/